>> Wednesday, 11 January 2012

Bodegas Vinas del Cenit, Tierra del Vino de Zamora, Castilla y Leon, Spain, stock photography samples, by Per Karlsson, BKWine --- This is a selection of samples. Use Image SEARCH to find more relevant photos --- Bodegas Vinas del Cenit is a winery located near the small town Villanueva de Campean in the Tierra del Vino (Denominacion de Origen Tierra del Vino de Zamora) region in north western Spain. It is near the Duero river and near the DO Toro. The winery itself is an isolated building, almost warehouse-looking, on a small hill at the end of a dirt road.

The main grape variety grown in the vineyards is tempranillo (also called tinta de toro). There is also some muscatel and malvasia. The vineyards are on a variety of different soil types, including calcareous sand stone and sand. Vines are spaced wide, the climate is hot and dry and water is scarce, and yields are very low. Most vines are trained (pruned) in the gobelet (bush vine) free standing system, without supporting wires. There are even some ungrafted vines in the vineyard. Why these wines survive and are not attacked by the vine louse is a mystery.

Bodegas Viñas del Cenit makes two main wines, both red. Venta Mazarron is made from tempranillo and carries the denomination Tierra del Vino de Zamora. It is aged for some time (8 months) in oak barrel and has a deep colour. The other wine is simply called Cenit, is also a tempranillo wine but with longer oak barrel aging - almost two years. Both wines are very substantial and modern in style.

>> Tuesday, 10 January 2012

Bodegas Margon, Tierra de Leon, Castilla y Leon, Spain, stock photography samples, by Per Karlsson, BKWine --- This is a selection of samples. Use Image SEARCH to find more relevant photos --- Bodegas Margon is the creation of the two families Martinez and Gonzalez in the Léon region. It is located in the small village Pajeres de Los Oteros in Castilla y Leon (Castile and Leon) in north-west Spain. The DO (Denominacion de Origen) is Tierra de Leon.

The bodega was created only a few years ago so the winery has been built recently. Nothing seems to have been spare in equipping the winery with the latest vinification technologies. There are shining stainless steel tanks as well as handsome wooden fermentation vats. There is a barrel aging room filled with oak barriques for the aging of the wines. The winery is run by the oenologist and winemaker Raul Perez Pereira together with Eugenio Gonzalez Rubio and Alfredo Martinez Cuervo, co-owners.

The main grape variety for the wines is the local prieto picudo. The vines grow on dry land, are planted with a very low planting density (there is so little water so the density must be kept low), some are approaching a hundred years. They make a range of wines, all under the brand Pricum (perhaps unfortunately chosen, for the English market). For example: Pricum Rosado; Pricum Albarin Barrica made from the albariño grape variety and aged in wood, Pricum Albarin Valdemuz a white wine where albariño is blended with verdejo; the red wines Pricum Prieto Picudo, Valdemuz and Paraje de El Santo, and a sweet white Pricum Aldebaran Vendimia Tardiva.

>> Monday, 9 January 2012

Leon, Castilla y Leon, Spain, stock photography samples, by Per Karlsson, BKWine --- This is a selection of samples. Use Image SEARCH to find more relevant photos --- Leon is a city in the region of Castilla y Leon (Castile and Leon) in north-west Spain. I arrived there being on a wine tour of the wine district in this part of Spain. I only wish I had had more time in Leon. It seemed like an interesting city.

Leon is the capital of the province of Leon with a population of 140,000 people. It is on the Bernesga river and also on the pilgrimage route Camino de Santiago leading to Santiago de Compostela on the Atlantic coast.

There are many sites and interesting buildings in Leon. some examples: the magnificent Gothic Santa Maria de Regla cathedral on Plaza de Regla, the Casa de Botines designed by Antoni Gaudi, the Palacio de Guzmanes etc etc.

There are also many restaurants and cafés of course. One to mention in particular is the restaurant Imprenta Casado where we had a wonderful lunch with some excellent wines from Castilla y Leon.

This is how Wikipedia describes it: "Las Médulas is a historical site near the town of Ponferrada in the region of El Bierzo (province of León, Castile and León, Spain), which used to be the most important gold mine in the Roman Empire. Las Médulas Cultural Landscape is listed by the UNESCO as one of the World Heritage Sites.

The spectacular landscape of Las Médulas resulted from the Ruina Montium, a Roman mining technique described by Pliny the Elder in 77 AD consisted of undermining the mountain with large quantities of water supplied by at least seven long aqueducts tapping the rivers in the nearby mountains. The same aqueducts were used to wash the extensive gold deposits, a precursor of Californian hydraulic mining. The area Hispania Tarraconensis had been invaded in 25 BC by the emperor Augustus, so the mining was initiated some time after the region had been subdued."

>> Friday, 6 January 2012

A short photo essay of a research trip with wine journalists from the Circle of Wine Writers (CWW) in Castilla y Leon (Castile and Leon) in Spain's north-western corner. The pictures may be slightly tongue in cheek and does not necessarily reflect the intense and dedicated work that goes into wine writing and wine journalism. My friends will forgive me.

Castile and Leon is a little known but very interesting part of Spain. There are several sub-districts that produce great wines. Some of the wines are very traditional and old-fashioned and others are hyper-modern. The climate is often dry and hot, the vineyards planted sparsely with vines, and you can find some amazing old vine vineyards with vines that are almost like individual works of art.

>> Thursday, 5 January 2012

Bodega Frutos Villar, Cigales, Castilla y Leon, Spain, stock photography samples, by Per Karlsson, BKWine --- This is a selection of samples. Use Image Search to find more photos --- Bodega Frutos Villar is a winery in the Cigales DO (Denominacion de Origen) in Castilla y Leon (Castile and Leon) in Spain. Cigales is a small town close to the city of Valladolid where they have their Bodegas Calderona winery. Frutos Villar has a long history starting as a wine trading company in the DO of Toro. It is now also active in the wine regions Rueda, Ribera del Duero, and Vino Tierra de Castilla y Leon.

The vineyards of Bodega Frutos Villar are mainly planted with the tempranillo grape variety for the red wines. For the rosé wines they use verdejo, tempranillo, albillo, and garnacha (grenache). They also make some white wine from e.g. verdejo and sauvignon blanc.

The winery is large scale and modern, with a mix of traditional installations and modern technology (eg a centrifuge for clarifying the wines). Some of the wines are aged in wooden barrels in the oak aging cellar. But in the village of Cigales they also have some very traditional and old fashioned underground cellars. On the outskirts of town there is an area with what looks like giant ant hills. In fact, it is the entrances to a vast labyrinth of hand-dug underground wine making and wine storing cellars. Today some of them are still used for wine making and others are used for receptions.

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